Betamax finally laid to rest

BBC ^ | August 28, 2002

[Darth Sidious]

Just 2,800 machines were sold in the 12 months to March 2002.

Am rather surprised the number was this high :-)

The article doesn't mention the real reason why Betamax never won out over VHS, though the audio/video quality of Betamax is better than VHS. When Sony first came out with the Betamax format, the president of the company ordered the home version be unable to record anything over 1 hour. He thought that no one would want to tape anything longer than that. The minimum "full" load of VHS is 2 hours, with 6 if you want to sacrifice quality for quantity.

Turns out people wanted to record more than one hour, after all.

[mvpel]

Not to mention the fact that they didn't license the format to anyone, while the owners of the VHS format licensed like a street hooker.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Here's a related thread on the Betamax.

The story doesn't mention it but I wonder if this concerns only the consumer market. Walk into most every TV station in the world and the cameras and editing decks are predominantly Beta. Sony originally owned both formats but after seeing the superior quality of Beta, sold VHS to JVC.

[Born to Conserve]

What is it about certain things that attract the same people?
VWs
Apples and Macs
Bungholing
Batamax
Democrats
Sprouts

[Abcdefg]

Sharp made a Beta home unit.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Not to mention the fact that they didn't license the format to anyone

Not so. Pioneer, TEAC and Toshiba all had Beta decks on the market in the 80s.

[ladtx]

Just hauled my old Sony Beta to the dump this past weekend. Dang it was heavy.

[Willie Green]

Yugos
Lava Lamps
Earth Shoes

[Arkinsaw]

Am rather surprised the number was this high :-)

I'm surprised to see its obituary so many years after it died. I thought it had been abandoned years ago.

Why did 2800 people purchase a Betamax recently? What retail outlet still carried Betamax in order for 2800 people to buy it?

[Willie Green]

How could we forget 8-track tapes?

[norraad]

I'll raise you;

Quadraphonic 8-track tapes!

To this day I never heard such an interesting effect as the concentric audio swirling in John Lennons #9 Dream.

[norraad]

I'll raise you;

Quadraphonic 8-track tapes!

To this day I never heard such an interesting effect as the concentric audio swirling in John Lennons #9 Dream.

[norraad]

I'll raise you;

Quadraphonic 8-track tapes!

To this day I never heard such an interesting effect as the concentric audio swirling in John Lennons #9 Dream.

[Charles Martel]

Why did 2800 people purchase a Betamax recently? What retail outlet still carried Betamax in order for 2800 people to buy it?

That was in the Japanese home market, though I'm sure a few of the Beta machines managed to sneak into the U.S. each year. There is still a small number of Beta faithful who would rather fight than switch. Amazingly, it seems that the Beta format is going to be around as long as VHS, which is currently on life-support.

[dakine]

I'll raise you, stealing my sister's 45s and using them for flying saucers...or finding old 78s in people's trash and tossing them through the air....

[Mr. Bird]

Shouldn't someone be pinging Jobs and Wozniak?

[theartfuldodger]

Sigh...I miss 8-track tapes.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I'm doubling down.
Before there was 8 track tapes, there were FOUR TRACK TAPES !

[bandleader]

I still use my"Super Beta-Max Hi-Fi Theater"The sound is great as is the picture!!

[Willie Green]

Sigh...I miss 8-track tapes.

Yeah, that break that often ocurred in the middle of a song when the player switched tracks really added something special to the musical experience. And when the tape would foul and entangle inside the player, and get pulled out in great lengths when you removed the casette from the opening: THAT was sheer joy for us engineering types who like tinkering and repairing things!